Street parade bring festival to a close

HUNDREDS of people joined in as the Wargrave village festival reached a climax at the weekend.

HUNDREDS of people joined in as the Wargrave village festival reached a climax at the weekend.

A street parade on Saturday and a party on Mill Green on Sunday marked the end of the festival after three weeks and more than 40 events.

The theme of the festival was “Mad Hatters” and there was plenty of evidence of that among the 300-plus villagers who took part in the parade from Victoria Road to St Mary’s Church in Station Road.

The village brownies and guides were dressed as “ladies of Ascot” while the boy scouts and cubs formed a pack of cards. Members of Henley Sailing Club, which is based in Willow Lane, were dressed as pirates.

Children and adults from the Sunday Club at St Mary’s Church were dressed to represent “fruit of the spirit” with paper plate hats topped with paper fruit and T-shirts imprinted with qualities such as “kindness”, “goodness”, “faithfulness” and “love”.

The parade was followed by a traditional fete and then a “spotlight show” in the evening featuring musicians, dancers and actors.

More than 200 people attended the party, where a buffet lunch was served in a marquee and there were games for children.

A flower festival was held at the church with displays based on different types of hats.

Festival chairman Graham Howe said: “The festival went very well and it was a delight to be involved with. We focused on delivering quality and the committee did some great work.

We had a party for the committee on Sunday night and worked out that the next festival is only 700 days away!”